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Destiny fans worldwide are stocking up on snacks, booking time off work, and bargaining with loved ones in anticipation of the long-awaited sequel’s launch next week, and we’re looking for any last scraps of info we can squeeze out of Bungie before it’s time to dive in and kick off our quest for vengeance against GaryGlennGil Ghaul.

We got in touch with David Allen, executive producer on Destiny 2, who graciously answered a few of our last-minute questions. Enjoy!

1. After analyzing beta data and player feedback, what changes are you evaluating for Destiny 2?

We were able to learn a tonne from our beta, and we are making a lot of changes based on what we observed and learned. We’ve addressed a number of bugs – including fixing things like an infinite super glitch, an infinite grenade glitch, a Warlock glide glitch – and we’ve made tweaks including decreasing Super recharge time, increasing grenade damage in PvE, and increasing power ammo drops in PvE.

The amount of time that our players put into any release very quickly eclipses how much test time we can put into it, so we always find a lot of surprises in these types of tests!

2. What enhancements can we expect in terms of added layers to Strikes, Crucible, and Raids — such as Challenges, modifiers, rewards, etc. — to keep players coming back for more?

We have a few different layers to keep our cyclical activities feeling fresh in Destiny 2. In Strikes, Crucible, and when you’re patrolling a destination, you’ll have Challenges available. Challenges are meta-goals that you can try to complete on top of the objectives in the activity itself, and they’re tied to some of your weekly rewards. We’ll also have new modifiers in our Nightfall strikes as another layer to change up that experience week-to-week.

We aren’t talking about any specifics around the Raid before launch, but rest assured there will be plenty to keep players coming back for more there as well.

3. Can you elaborate on the difference between Quickplay Crucible matches and Competitive game types? How many different modes will be in each?

Quickplay and Competitive Crucible matches are meant to give players different options depending on their mood. We use different matching criteria for each. In Competitive, we favour a closer skill balance between the teams, and in Quickplay we focus on finding you a match as quickly as possible.

The gametypes are also different in the two playlists. In Quickplay we feature Control, Supremacy, and Clash, and in Competitive you’ll find Countdown and Survival.

4. Destiny’s armour and weapon customisation evolved significantly over the years. How is Destiny 2 approaching gear customisation on day one?

You’ll have a tonne of ways to customise your character to show off your own personal gameplay style and fashion, from finding gear, weapons, and Exotics you want to use, to picking a subclass and specialisation path for your Guardian.

Also, you can now apply shaders per piece of gear, so you can choose to go head-to-toe in matching shaders or mix-and-match as you see fit. You can also now apply skins to customise the look of your weapons or slot mods on your armor to further customize the way that you play.

5. On the topic of gear – are we still looking at a green > blue > purple > yellow hierarchy? Have you tweaked drop rates in Destiny 2?

Guardians will be seeking out amazing new weapons, armour, Exotics, shaders, emblems, and more in Destiny 2. We haven’t made any changes to the hierarchy of gear rarity, but we have done some tuning to make sure the game is always generous. We also want to make sure there’s always a clear, understandable path for players to get valuable rewards each week.

6. Can you share one piece of Exotic gear we haven’t seen yet that you think will be a favourite among Guardians in Destiny 2?

We’ve already shown off three of our awesome new Exotic weapons in the Destiny 2 beta – Risk Runner, an SMG that becomes more powerful when you take Arc damage; Sweet Business, an auto rifle that increases its rate of fire the longer you hold the trigger; and Sunshot, a hand cannon that makes enemies explode when you kill them.

There are a bunch of other great new Exotic weapons and armour, but we want to keep those as surprises for players to discover starting 6th September.

7. We’ve seen some of the locations we’ll visit in Destiny 2 — are there any other planets we’ll be visiting during the campaign?

In Destiny 2, you’ll visit four new destinations – the European Dead Zone on Earth, which is an area long abandoned by humanity; Titan, a moon of Saturn that features huge methane oceans; Nessus, a planetoid that has been almost entirely transformed by the Vex; and Io, a moon of Jupiter that is the first place the Traveler touched down in our solar system. All of these are robust destinations that include story missions, adventures, lost sectors, public events, and patrols.

8. Tell us about Dominus Ghaul and the Red Legion. What makes the Red Legion different from other Cabal?

Dominus Ghaul is the leader of the Red Legion, who are the most elite of the elite in the Cabal military. The Red Legion came to Earth with one purpose in mind – capture the power of the Traveler. Ghaul, though, wants more. He wants to be chosen by the Traveler, to be validated by a higher power. He believes the Traveler made a mistake when it granted its power to the Guardians, and he wants that validation and that power for himself and the Red Legion.

We’re just a few days away from Destiny 2! Of course, you can also head to PlayStation Store to pre-order the game, then pre-load it on your PS4 so you’re ready to play!

No idea if it’s the same one but I preordered in the UK and a theme auto downloaded along with the game yesterday, I can’t view it as it’s got the same countdown timer as the game, but there is some kind of theme.

That’s kind of how I felt. It started off ok, but then it became more and more clear how you were locked out of stuff if you didn’t have a bunch of people you knew playing it or feel like going to some external website. Then an expansion came out that was more expensive that what I paid for the game…

That’s pretty much every game these days. Wait a few months there’s a GOTY version with all dlc. Wait a few more and it’s on sale. Nothing unique to Destiny apart from it has a higher than usual number of whiners due to it’s popularity XD

One of the few games I consider truly next gen in terms of technical and graphical quality, especially as a PlayStation gamer who’s had to miss out on this brilliant studio before. Not to say it wasn’t flawed. Lack of story and cutscenes, complicated set up (that only worsened with light level,dlc, and changing things up, as if things weren’t complicated enough), horrible (to the point of almost a complete lack of) matchmaking, overpriced and badly handled dlc. I also detested the raids in their entirety.

I bought it and I must say its not to bad , would have liked to have been 60fps and the crucible part of the game maybe you could select which type of game you want to play instead of it being alternated , but overall Ive enjoyed it so far .

All your “excuses” have been debunked by Digital Froundry, the ps4 pro have what it takes to run the game at 60fps. Also, there’s other games, technically far superior do destiny that run at 1080p60fps even with destructive worlds, and more than 10 times more players per team in the same game.

You guys should be farmers because the only thing you know is milking cows.

I have a UK console/account but have moved to Shanghai. My console connects online but I’ve had some issues playing online/connecting to servers – namely Rocket League. Will I be able to play Destiny 2 here?